Thursday, April 25, 2013

Day 9 - Zero Day in Idyllwild

By Hedgehog

Magic Man and Redshirt were gone by the time we woke up. Redshirt had to catch a plane out of LAX, so they left early.

BooBoo and I had a lot to get done, even though Zero Days seem to be lollygagging, they are usually filled with trying to get chores done.  And eating. Lots of eating....mmm...town food.

First BooBoo and I went for breakfast at an Idyllwild institution, The Red Kettle.
Once the grocery store opened we resupplied some needed food. Then we organized the logistics of our next section, from just south of Idyllwild to Big Bear Lake.

We finally made it to a Post Office, where we shipped several boxes.  Most went to Aqua Dolce, where we'll be getting off trail for a week to attend BooBoo's Master's Graduation (They had street clothes fir our flight so we don't scare our fellow travelers too much). One box went to Big Bear with extra food/gear that we'll use from there.
When we walked into the Post Office s local asked us "You don't have bomb in that backpack do you?" Pretty sure he was trying to be funny but it came across as crass given recent events in Boston.
We ate at Idyllwild Pizza Co for lunch. The calzones were fantastic.
Next we stopped by the laundromat, which is one of the nicer ones I've ever been in, and cleaned the last of our dirty clothes (Magic Man and Redshirt had done most of them the night before). I also washed my Tilley Hat, which has been great as a sun hat but had become rather knarly with sweat and diet. One quick Delicate cycle later, it was like new.
After all that we needed a jolt of coffee. So we wandered over to the Higher Ground coffee shop and had some really good coffee on their porch. The coffee shop is very hiker friendly (as is the whole town) and has a computer with printer that hikers can use. BooBoo availed herself of the opportunity and printed out a copy of the Water Report for the next couple hundred miles of trail.
This is a critical piece if information given the scarcity of water. It lists all the possible water sources on/near the PCT and if they had water the last time a hiker/volunteer checked.
Re-caffeinated we went to Nomad Adventures, the local outfitter.  I bought a compression stuff sack for my sleeping bag to make more room in my pack for food.  BooBoo purchased a water bladder to increase her water storage capacity for some up coming dry sections. 
We returned to our hotel and packed our packs up with our new gear/food.  Just as we were finishing this Magic Man returned fom San Diego via LAX. He'd gone down to San Diego to pick up donated tortillas for Kick Off. How many tortillas do you need to feed a bunch of long distance hikers? 2000. Apparently it was quite the sight. He had delivered them to Kick Off before coming back so I never got to see them.
Whike in San Diego he also stopped at REI and picked up some new socks for us.
We went back to Idyllwild Pizza for dinner and then called it a night.

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